Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia

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2640

Shrub
Perennial

Native to Georgia & South Carolina (but not seen recently in SC)

Documented growing wild in GA - SC

Rare

Look for it on shell middens, shell mounds, shelly sand dunes, brackish marshes, maritime sand spits, per Weakley's Flora

map
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IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Twigs spine-tipped

LEAVES:
Tardily deciduous
Simple
Alternate

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Blue/Lavender
Bisexual
Radially symmetrical
4-5 merous
4-5 lobed calyx
4-5 lobed corolla
Superior ovary
Flowers solitary in leaf axils

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Red
Berry

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Solanales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (5/21/15):
 Lycium carolinianum   FAMILY Solanaceae

INCLUDING PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
 Lycium carolinianum var. carolinianum   FAMILY Solanaceae

INCLUDING PLANTS National Database
 Lycium carolinianum var. quadrifidum

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 165-01-001:
 Lycium carolinianum   FAMILY Solanaceae

 

COMMON NAME:
 Christmas-berry, Carolina Matrimony-vine

Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

image of Lycium carolinianum, Christmas-berry, Carolina Matrimony-vine

Bruce A. Sorrie    bas_lycium_carolinianum1

December    Cameron County    TX

Branches stiff, some ending in thorns. Leaves succulent, per Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Florida and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama by Robert Godfrey.

image of Lycium carolinianum, Christmas-berry, Carolina Matrimony-vine

Bruce A. Sorrie    bas_lycium_carolinianum1b

December    Cameron County    TX

Corollas blue, lavender or nearly white, 4(5)-lobed, and rotate, per Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Florida and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama by Robert Godfrey.